Hargreaves could play in derby

24 September 2011 08:29

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Roberto Mancini has raised the spectre of fit-again midfielder Owen Hargreaves facing old club Manchester United at Old Trafford next month.[LNB] Three years of simmering resentment at the way Hargreaves' long-term knee injuries were initially handled by the Red Devils medical staff spilled over this week.[LNB]In the aftermath of his goalscoring debut in City's Carling Cup win over Birmingham, Hargreaves claimed he felt "like a guinea pig", such were the treatments he was forced to undergo.[LNB]To Hargreaves, the whole problem had been exacerbated by injections he was advised to have by United as part of his attempts to combat a tendinitis problem that first came to light in 2007, when he was still at Bayern Munich.[LNB]Evidently, Ferguson, and United, are unhappy with the 30-year-old's observations, their staunch rebuttal merely fuelling what was always likely to be a high-octane duel on October 23, which Hargreaves could be at the centre of in more ways than one.[LNB]"We have to be calm and think about his body," said Mancini. "If everything is okay in the next two or three weeks, maybe he can play against Manchester United."